Maclean et al. - 2002 - Rice almanac source book for the most important e

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Rice around the world
Introduction
World rice production in 2000 was about 600
million t. At least 114 countries grow rice and
more than 50 have an annual production of
100,000 t or more. Asian farmers produce about
90% of the total, with two countries, China and
India, growing more than half the total crop.
For most rice-producing countries where
annual production exceeds 1 million t, rice is the
staple food. In Bangladesh, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and
Vietnam, rice provides 50–80% of the total
calories consumed. Notable exceptions are
Egypt, Nigeria, and Pakistan, where rice
contributes only 5–10% of per capita daily
caloric intake.
The typical Asian farmer plants rice
primarily to meet family needs. Nevertheless,
nearly half the crop goes to market; most of that
is sold locally. Only 6–7% of world rice
production is traded internationally. The major
rice exporters are Thailand, the United States,
Vietnam, Pakistan, India, and China.
In the narratives that follow, we first present
aspects of rice production in Asia, Europe and
the Mediterranean, North America, Latin
America and the Carribean, and West Africa.
Next are shown the rice situation and
outlook for the 10 major rice-producing
countries, followed by tables and graphs of
relevant data on another 54 countries that
produce significant quantities of rice.
In general, the scales of the various graphs
are identical from one country to another for any
given data type (e.g., role of rice in the diet, level
of per capita production). This consistency
allows easier visual comparison across countries,
but it comes at the cost of obscuring the time
trends for countries whose data cluster at the
bottom of the uniform scales.
There are exceptions to this scale consistency,
however. They are most common in the
graphs showing indices of production, area, and
yield because some countries expanded production
and area harvested very rapidly in percentage
terms (often from a very low base) during
the past 35 years. Given such extraordinary rapid
growth, the use of a common scale for all
countries would nearly obliterate the time trends
of many countries, including most if not all of
the world’s major rice producers. Thus, a
decision was made to use different scales for
certain countries on some graphs. When the scale
is not identical across all countries, a note to that
effect is included for the countries with different
scales. In addition to different scales for indices
of production, area harvested, and yield per
hectare, several countries also have different
scales for per capita production (Cambodia,
Guyana, Suriname).
Net trade status is defined here as net
exports (i.e., exports minus imports) divided by
the sum of production plus imports. For these
graphs, the scale is between –100 and +100. This
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